Thunder in the Night
by Auden Grey
Summary: "Let's get one thing straight, Valentine. I am not here, okay? Do not post on your Slap page that I'm here. Understand?" Or, Jade shows up at Cat's house willingly one night.


**AN: I think I have a problem? I literally can't stop writing Jade/Cat one-shots. I have like two more that are half finished, too. I may need help...:) But in all seriousness, thank you all so much for the reviews on the previous stories. You guys rock!  
**

* * *

Jade posts on her Slap page that she's going to some record producer's swanky party in the Hollywood Hills. She's not really though. She just wants a cover story so people don't find out where she really is: at Cat Valentine's front door. Los Angeles was hit with a sudden thunderstorm earlier and somewhere between Cat's incessant rambling about her brother at lunch, she mentioned she was going to be alone for the weekend. Jade doesn't trust Cat with a fork, so she can't fathom someone trusting her enough to take care of a house for a whole weekend. Then again, Jade doesn't really know Cat's parents all that well and she doesn't really want to. One Valentine is enough.

She sighs and takes a deep breath because once that front door opens, the little redhead is going to invade her personal space and never ever let go. Before she can knock rudely, her phone buzzes in her sweatshirt pocket. She has eight notifications from The Slap. Don't these people have lives?

**Rex:** Are there Northridge Girls there?

**Beck: **Thanks for the invite…

**Trina:** WHERE IS THIS PARTY?

Jade stares at Trina's post in confusion because didn't she block Trina a few weeks ago?

**Andre:**I echo Beck's statement.

**Trina:** SERIOUSLY. WHERE IS THIS PARTY? I NEED TO KNOW.

**Tori:** Wow, fancy!

Jade rolls her eyes. Vega is so annoying.

**Cat:** :( I'm scared of the thunder!

**Robbie:** I'll protect you, Kitty Cat!

_No_, Jade thinks to herself. She slips her phone back into her pocket and pounds on Cat's front door. The lightning crackles in the sky and she's pretty sure Cat is under her bed cowering like a wimp. She rings the doorbell four consecutive times and is about to pick the lock when Cat opens the door. She's in her signature cupcake pajamas, a fuzzy pink blanket wrapped around her head.

Jade wants to throw herself off the porch.

"What are you doing here?" Cat questions excitedly, stepping aside to let Jade in. She rids herself of the blanket and bounces on the balls of her feet. "You came to hang out!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jade grumbles, inviting herself into the living room. She can't help but notice that every light in the house is on. Cat's red couch is littered with at least six different stuffed animals. Jade thinks this is what hell looks like. "Am I interrupting something?"

Cat, unable to pick on the sarcasm, giggles. "Hehe, we were having a party! We're watching _High School Musical_!"

Jade looks at the TV in utter disgust. She can't help but chuckle because Zac Efron looks constipated where Cat paused it.

"Oh, fantastic," Jade says dryly once she throws herself on the armchair. Cat twiddles her thumbs nervously. "What?"

"I thought you went to a party?" Cat questions shyly. Then, her chocolate eyes widen. "Is this really you, Jade? Or did you clone yourself?"

Jade exhales loudly, mentally berating herself for not staying home. "Yes, Cat. I cloned myself. From a sheep."

Cat claps in delight. "I love sheep! One time, my brother-"

"No!" Jade barks. She's not doing this. Not tonight. Cat recoils with a pout and collects all her stuffed animals in one arm. She gingerly places them on the floor with the exception of Mr. Purple. Jade purposely steps on a stuffed bear that's probably named something dumb like Bear and sits down. "Let's get one thing straight, Valentine. I am not here, okay? Do not post on your Slap page that I'm here. Understand?"

"Yeppers," Cat nods as she strokes Mr. Purple. Another clap of thunder booms, the aftermath reverberating off the walls. She closes her eyes and whimpers.

"Jadey, the thunder is scary!"

Jade rolls her eyes at how much of a baby Cat is. She then notices how Cat completely missed a button on her pajama top so it looks all scrunched up and disheveled. They're clearly old and worn as well because they don't fully cover her tan stomach.

"It's not going to hurt you, Cat," Jade says in the best comforting voice she can muster. It sounds so forced but Cat finds it reassuring because she squeals and plops down next to her. "Personal space, kid."

"I'm not that close!"

"Then how can I tell you had macaroni and cheese for dinner?"

Cat's eyes widen and she giggles into Mr. Purple. She scoots a few feet over and reaches for the remote.

"Oh, no, no," Jade chuckles, looking at Cat as if she caught her sticking her hand in the cookie jar. She grabs the remote and holds it to her chest. "If I'm staying, we're watching what I want to watch. Got it?"

"Phooey," Cat pouts. "No scary movies!"

Jade pretends like she's going to stand up. "Well, I guess I better get going then."

"No, no!" Cat cries, reaching for Jade's arm. "We can watch scary movies! Just don't leave me!" Her bottom lip quivers and that's when Jade starts to really feel bad. If she subjects Cat to the likings of the _Saw_ franchise, she wouldn't be sleeping tonight. "Just don't leave me," she repeats for good measure.

"Do you want to play a game?" Jade whispers while raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow in hopes that Cat will comply. She knows she's in for it when the tears dissipate from Cat's eyes immediately.

"Kay, kay!" Cat screeches as she clambers off the couch. She's back in ten seconds with Candyland clutched firmly in her hands.

"Candyland!"

Jade closes her eyes and rings Mr. Purple's neck so she doesn't snap at Cat. Cat gasps and pulls the stuffed animal from her grip though. "Mr. Purple! Did she hurt you?"

"It's fine," Jade snaps, snatching the game board from Cat. She dumps the contents out on the coffee table. "Organize the cards while I use the bathroom."

Cat nods and slowly gets the cards together. By the time Jade gets back from the bathroom a good ten minutes later, Cat's still organizing the cards.

"I'll do it!" she bites out in frustration, gathering the rest of the cards still in the box."I want to be red," Jade states darkly.

Cat's bottom lip trembles as her bleary eyes blink slowly, like she's afraid to argue. "But, but I like red! It's the closest color to pink."

"It's also the color of blood."

It takes Cat approximately three seconds to hand over the red ginger man piece with a shaky hand. Jade accepts the game piece triumphantly and sets it down on the board.

"Why don't you be blue?" Jade suggests dully.

"I don't like blue," Cat whispers with a pout. "It's a sad color."

"Fine," Jade snaps with a fake smile. "How about yellow?"

Cat immediately brightens as she takes the piece from Jade's hand. "Kay, kay!" She places the piece in front of Jade's and reaches for a card. Jade, however, slaps her hand away. "Owwie!"

"I'm going first," Jade states angrily. "Your piece can't just cut my piece!"

"But it says on the box the youngest player goes first!" Cat says matter-of-factly, her index finger pointing out the finely printed rules.

Jade mumbles under her breath and motions for Cat to go. The bubbly redhead picks up the first card and immediately grins from ear to ear.

"Yay! I got the star wand!"

"What the hell does that mean?" Jade wonders in confusion. It's been so long since she's played this game and the last time she did play it, Cat cried for over twenty minutes when she found out Candyland wasn't an actual place.

"No swearing," Cat whispers with wide-eyes. "It means I get to skip alllll the way up here!" She makes the yellow gingerbread man skip halfway up the game board while Jade crosses her arms in a huff.

"So you're basically going to win."

"I could get stuck in the molasses," Cat says seriously. "Your turn!"

Jade reaches for a card and ends up knocking half the deck over. Cat tuts at her and puts it back together. "No cheating!"

"I got one blue square," Jade deadpans as she glances at her card. "So I get to move one space."

"Yay?" Cat whispers shyly. "My turn!" She squeals loudly and Jade's angry she forgot to bring some sort of food to stuff in Cat's mouth when she got annoying.

"What?" Jade dares to ask. "What did you get?"

"The chocolate piece…"

Jade nearly throws the board off the table when she notices how close the chocolate square is to the finish. "That's crap!"

"Nah-uh," Cat sings happily. "I'm winning fair and square!"

"I'm going to make your face square in a minute," Jade threatens.

However, Cat smiles. "Cool! Then it will be shaped like a TV! One time, my brother hit his head against the TV until it broke. The TV, not my brother's head. He just had to get 18 stitches and some man in a suit had to come talk to me about our home life. He had a lot of questions."

"I bet he did," Jade says in disinterest. She grabs a card and throws it in Cat's face when it's one orange square. "Oh, three spaces. Wow."

Cat pouts at her and giddily reaches for a card. "Oh, no!" she gasps, showing Jade the yellow cupcake card. Jade smiles widely when Cat moves her piece all the way back to the beginning, three spaces behind her.

"Haha," Jade chuckles in triumph.

"I don't wanna play anymore!" Cat complains in a half screech, half whimper hybrid voice. She knocks the game board over and gets up and stomps her foot.

Jade throws her hands up in the air and stares at Cat in disbelief. "Don't be such a sore loser, Cat."

"I hate this game!" Cat breaks out into a grin seconds later. "Hehe! That's how my brother gets when I beat him. It's also how he gets when he doesn't like the food my mom serves him. Sometimes we have to handcuff him to the table."

Instead of replying, Jade takes Cat by the hand and sits her down. "Do you want to make popcorn and finish watching the movie?"

"Kay, kay!" Cat beams while clapping her hands. "But my brother blew up the microwave."

Jade doesn't pry. "Uh, okay. Do you have any chips then?"

"My brother flushed them all down the toilet to feed the sewer rats."

"Okay," Jade snaps in irritation. "How about we order a pizza?"

"Pizza guys won't come here because one time, my brother pretended to be a dog and attacked one of them. He has a restraining order against my brother."

Jade surrenders and puts her hand up. She sits down next to Cat and closes her eyes when the little redhead squeals at the thunder and cuddles into her side.

"Why does it thunder?" It's such a childish question, even for Cat. But the way Cat's looking up at her with big brown eyes and a trembling lip hinders her from snapping.

Jade reluctantly wraps her arm around Cat's shoulder and squeezes it. "It means the angels are bowling." It's dumb; she knows, but Cat's easy to please. Jade, of course, scoffed when her mother said that to her when she was five, but Cat squeals and sits up in place.

"Oh, I love angels! They're so pretty!" she shrieks, reaching for the remote. "Want to watch the rest of the movie?"

_No_.

"Sure," Jade says dully. She picks up a random stuffed animal from the floor and places it behind her head to lean on. Cat doesn't dare say anything. Zac Efron starts singing to a basketball and Jade wonders how many times Cat has seen this movie. She assumes a lot since Cat is singing the lyrics exactly three seconds before Zac Efron sings. "Cat," she practically demands. "Why don't you rest? You look tired."

It's barely ten o'clock but Jade's patience is wearing thin.

"I do?" Cat says in confusion. Then, she stifles a yawn and rubs her eyes. "I guess I am!"

Jade pats her lap and runs her fingers through Cat's soft hair when she settles with Mr. Purple comfortably. Her legs barely reach the other end of the couch and it makes Jade smile. She knows all the tricks to get Cat asleep even when she's not tired. There's the head rubbing, which gets Cat calm, the back rubbing, which makes Cat's eyes fight to stay open, and soon enough, Cat's (non-Spanish) thumb will eventually find its way to her mouth.

Cat's asleep within minutes. The good thing about Cat is when she's asleep; she's asleep for the rest of the night. It's like she's dead to the world. But then a _loud_ clap of thunder rumbles and lightning crackles and Jade actually jumps. Not because she's scared, because she's zoning out!

Surprisingly, Cat stirs with a giggle.

"Don't worry, Jadey," she says, voice slightly muffled by her thumb. She reaches for Jade's hand and clutches it tightly against Mr. Purple. "It's just the angels bowling."

"Yeah, yeah," Jade grumbles, reaching for the remote. Cat falls back asleep once she finds a random horror movie on TV. It's some low budget one but Jade loves those. She reaches for her forgotten phone on the side table and nearly throws it across the room when they're _15_ notifications from the Slap.

They're all from Trina.

Jade doesn't even read Trina's desperate pleas. Instead, she finds the block button and reads over the confirmation a good few times just to be sure she's actually blocked Trina. Then, she settles again and continues to tangle her fingers in Cat's fiery hair.

She smiles because a) nobody can see, and b) because Cat's way better than a fake party in the Hollywood Hills.


End file.
